I’m not afraid of losing Otamendi, nobody told me anything.

In the preview to the Sp. Braga-Benfica match, for the 16th round of the national championship, José Mourinho was confronted with the possibility of losing Nico Otamendi in the January transfer window. The Argentinian has been linked to Barcelona. 

In the preview to the Sp. Braga-Benfica match, for the 16th round of the national championship, José Mourinho was confronted with the possibility of losing Nico Otamendi in the January transfer window. The Argentinian has been linked to Barcelona. 

Nico Otamendi

I’m not afraid of losing him at all. Otamendi hasn’t said anything, nor have Rui Costa, Mário Branco, or Simão Sabrosa. I have no reason to worry until one of them tells us something. Otamendi has a very open relationship with me, and none of them have spoken about this. I’ll be worried when one of them says something to me.

Benfica is in good form, but so are their rivals.

The success of our teams also depends on the success or failure of other teams. If the others had dropped points, we would be closer. But as long as you win, you don’t fall behind. The only thing that depends on us are the results. The game against Braga is a final, but so are all of them. The only thing we’ve been doing lately is playing finals. The game against Estoril, the semi-final against Braga as well. January awaits us, after December was the same.

Evolution of the game model

When we lost [Dodi] Lukebakio, we were a little bit lacking in terms of that type of player. We gave the team a different dimension. We started to be more compact. From a base of very solid play, the team became comfortable. We started to have a pressing routine that made us one of the teams that presses the most in the opponent’s half.